Thursday, April 23, 2009

Phoenix are a very popular tattoo design. Phoenix made as phoenix tribal tattoos or phoenixCeltic tattoos are also very popular.

Phoenix Tattoos - the legendary mythological bird of fire, is probably the most popularof all the rebirth and resurrection symbols. There are stories and fables that touch on thePhoenix myth in the ancient Middle East, India, China and the Greek and Roman Empires.In the myth the Phoenix is an extraordinarily long-lived bird of great beauty and luxuriantplumage (often described as golden or red-hued), living five hundred years or more, afact attributed by one early Jewish legend that the Phoenix refused to eat the forbiddenfruit of Paradise. At the end of it's life the Phoenix would build a nest of aromatic twigs,set fire to itself, and be consumed in the funeral pyre of it's own making. After three daysthe Phoenix would arise from the ashes, reborn.The Phoenix was originally a symbol of the cycle of the rising and setting of the sun butover time evolved to become a symbol of human resurrection. On Roman coins the phoenixrepresented an undying Empire. In the early Christian Church the phoenix was a symbol ofChrist's resurrection and everlasting life. The phoenix represented the victory of life overdeath.As a tattoo symbol, the Phoenix can be found in many tattoo genres, but of the Far Eastin particular. It is a symbol of resurrection, rebirth and regeneration. It also representspurification and transformation through fire and adversity.